This article discusses the reality and benefits of language study programs in the Soviet Union for American students as compared to the expectations of teachers and students. Specific problems concern the areas of phonetics, grammar and conversation. (CLK)

Discusses the development of the ability to speak independently through the use of exercises which progress gradually from direct external guidance through indirect external guidance to self-directed utterance. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

The replacement of the grammatical syllabus with a communicative syllabus is discussed in terms of foreign language teaching practice. A syllabus is a device to assist in effective teaching and an administrative tool which involves generalizing about the nature of learning and specifies a progression to a stated set of goals. Developments in…

Article evaluated the need for foreign students to understand Dutch in order to study in the Netherlands as well as to exist socially. (RK)

Examines the validity of picture-type parallel tests of aural ability as a measure of aural language dominance for bilingual students. Relationship with various criterion measures is explored, as is relationship to length of residence in continental United States. Results suggest that such testing is a promising technique. (Author/HMV)

Second language students are often discouraged in trying to acquire oral fluency skills. Four specific problem areas are: (1) timidity; (2) listening comprehension difficulties; (3) oral reading problems; and (4) difficulty in putting sentences together. An approach that emphasizes writing skills avoids these problem areas and uses skills the…

Discusses the strategies of good language learning and names ten features that mark the good language learner. (KM)

Describes techniques for measuring and developing the syntactic fluency of students learning French. (P M P)

Interest is focused on the relationship between how old a person is when he or she first begins to learn a language and the fluency with which he or she can produce and understand that language in adulthood. The goal is to describe and measure the relationship between early experience and environment in language learning. In particular, the…

AN EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGE COURSE WAS DEVELOPED TO TEST THE EFFICACY OF TWO MODERN APPROACHES OF TEACHING FRENCH. THE EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES USED A TEXT WHICH INCORPORATED THE USE OF AUDIOVISUAL TECHNIQUES FOR MORE COMPLETE CONVERSATIONAL MASTERY. THE CLASSES WERE GIVEN SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS AND PRE- AND POST-TESTED ON (1) COMPREHENSION, (2)…

A description is given of three studies on the effects of teacher clarity upon student achievement. Three low inference variables of teacher clarity--vagueness terms, mazes, and additional unexplained content--were selected for study. Vagueness terms are words or phrases indicating approximation, unclarity, or lack of assurance. A maze is defined…

Evaluation was made of the Wilson School District's oral Spanish and oral English development programs for preschool and first-grade children with limited proficiency in English and/or Spanish. The program consisted of 3 major components: an English Oral Language Program (EOLP) for children using nonstandard English, a Spanish Oral Language…

This is an individually administered test designed to evaluate programs that teach English as a second language, specifically the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory's (SWCEL) Oral Language Program for children in the primary grades. A major goal of the test is to elicit responses in as "spontaneous" a manner as possible in order to…

This study investigated how much of the Language Instruction Register (variation in language in different social situations) black-vernacular speaking children had acquired by grades one, three, and five. A sentence repetition task was devised which contained selected Language Instruction Register forms having black ghetto vernacular semantic…

Describes the oral language examinations developed by ARELS (Association of Recognized English Language Schools). Copies of the examinations in the form of "Picture Story Booklets" and "Reading Passage Booklets" can be obtained from ARELS, 15 Holland Park Gardens, London W14 8DZ. (IFS/WGA)